When picking up residential, as well as commercial refuse, refuse haulers attempt to maximize their refuse vehicle potential. Refuse vehicles with front fork loading forks can be utilized to pick up large intermediate containers at commercial buildings. Additionally, these types of vehicles can be utilized to receive residential refuse at the rear of the vehicle. Recently, intermediate containers that include garbage can gripping devices that are maintained on the front loading forks have become more popular for picking up residential refuse. These intermediate containers include a self-contained arm that extends from the intermediate container to grasp a garbage can and dump the garbage can in the intermediate container. Once the intermediate container is full, the front loading forks dump the intermediate container into the hopper of the large permanent container on the vehicle.
While using these intermediate containers with a grasping arm, it has been found that as the arm extends from the intermediate container, due to the fast cycle time, that substantial horizontal movement is created in the front loading forks. The further the arm extends from the intermediate container, the more likely horizontal movement of the front loading forks is to occur. The horizontal motion causes increased stress on the front loading forks which were originally designed to handle vertical forces from the operation of commercial container dump cycles. Accordingly, it would be desirous to prohibit horizontal movement of the front loading forks during pick up of residential refuse while utilizing a front loading intermediate container with a self-contained gripping arm.
The present disclosure provides the art with a refuse vehicle that substantially prohibits movement of the front loading forks when utilizing an intermediate container during residential pick up. The present disclosure enables vertical movement of the intermediate container to adjust for garbage can height while prohibiting horizontal movement of the front loading forks. Additionally, the disclosure provides a simple and economical biasing cradle system that can be attached to an existing refuse vehicles or can be original manufacturer's equipment.